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How do you hope to plug Resurrection Letters songs into your set list?

Peterson: Right now I'm on a release tour, and I know this sounds kinda hokey, but I've put together a PowerPoint presentation talking about the album as if were a book tour, showing all the scriptures that went into these songs. It's going really well and I'm doing a lot of talking and performing, so it's not like some random show, but a chance to perform the album from start to finish and paint a picture. [During more traditional shows], I'm going to perform the album in its entirety, and then if there's a strong contingent that knows my music, at the end of the show I'm going to say, "If you want to stick around, we'll play some old songs." For me, it's important to present this as a record first and then at the end come back and play whatever individual songs.

What was it like to shift from independent artistry to a record label, and then repeat all that again?

Peterson: I don't want to be negative towards record labels because I owe my career to Essential. The fact is, a lot of people would not know me and my music without them. It's cool and they're good people, but it was also really fun to be an indie again and be in complete control of everything right down to the artwork of the album cover. On my second [Essential] album, [Clear To Venus], the label wanted me to put my face on the album to brand an image. I thought about it and was like, "No, that would be disastrous." But they told me it would be a deal breaker if I didn't, so now I cringe every time I see that album cover because it has no sense of vibe to it. I had originally wanted that record to look like Aimee Mann's Lost In Space album. When it came to Behold the Lamb of God and The Far Country, I had full control over the whole package. I don't want to sound like a curmudgeon, but I loved the old school days when it was more about presentation than just the songs.

[The decision] to return to a label came from a late night drive when I was shuffling my iPod and one of the songs from The Far Country came on. I ended up putting on the whole album to see what it would sound like a year later, and at every turn I was proud of it. To my shock, there was nothing I would've changed. But I was also so grieved because while it did well for an indie album, I wondered if I did enough for those songs to really see the light of day. To my fans and the music community for which I play, I'm not necessarily [under the radar], but when I've been doing radio promo for this CD, people are like "I didn't realize you've been so busy these last six years." That was a little frustrating to hear.

How did you specifically get hooked up with Centricity and what made you decide they were the right match?

Peterson: [Singer/songwriter] Jason Gray is a good friend of mine, and I knew about Centricity through him. I had originally planned to release Resurrection Letters as an indie project, but sent it to Centricity at the last minute, just to see what they would think. To my shock, they liked it and got it from the start. It just felt right, like something God provided. I don't want to over spiritualize it, but because of that, I put the brakes on the indie release and Centricity started working on it.

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